Shield Maiden Page 26

  Chapter Twenty - Asgard

  The doorway still glowed and shimmered.

  “It is still open?” Anna said. “We could follow her.”

  Gurthrunn shook his head. “No, we cannot. She could be anywhere. Didn’t you hear what she said? She opened all the doors. Bifrost is now linking every world to every other. She could be anywhere in any of the Nine Worlds.”

  “She has got away then?”

  “She has, for now at any rate. But she has not taken the horn or the necklace.” Gurthrunn answered, lifting up the Brisingamen. “These at least we denied her. Your village and people are safe, for the moment.”

  Anna looked around for Kendra’s horse, but it too had vanished. She turned back to the doorway, “What do we do about that?” she asked, pointing at the barrow.

  “We must certainly take action.” Trying to pull himself to his feet, Gurthrunn groaned.

  “Sit back down, you are wounded,” Lydia knelt beside the dwarf. “The cut on your arm is deep, it needs stitching and binding,” she said, examining and probing his wound.

  “Ouch!” he muttered, then pointed over the Valkyrie’s head and across the field. “Ah, see? Your companions are coming to join us, Anna. They have the tinker with them.”

  Anna looked towards the village and saw that her brother, their three friends and Raedann were hastening towards the barrow. Seeing Gurthrunn, Hild ran forward, took one look at him, tutted, and rummaging for a needle and thread in the pouch of medicaments that always hung from her belt, she bent to attend to his injuries.

  “What happened to you?” Anna asked Raedann whilst Hild worked on the dwarf.

  The story teller winked at her. “Well, I led your village folk a merry chase across the fields and woods. Ended up hiding in that cave beneath Grove Hill. I was peeping out to see how close they were when all of a sudden there was this great flash of light and then they all turned away and started running back towards the village. I figured that the spell had been broken and they were on their way to pick a fight with Kendra. Gather from what Lar tells me that it was a bigger fight than I expected. Svartálfar and Valkyries eh? What a story! I will get the details of that tale off you if I may.”

  Anna grinned, “In a bit, but first we have to decide what to do now. Kendra has gone, but she left the door open. Gurthrunn says we have to take action.”

  Coming up behind Raedann, Wilburh, still out of breath, was gazing in awe at the shimmering portal. “What is that? he squeaked, pushing past them and pointing at the barrow.

  “A gateway to everywhere. It is the Bifrost,” Anna said.

  “Amazing!” he said, his voice shaking with reverence.

  “That’s as may be, but it is very dangerous,” Gurthrunn said. “We must inform the gods. Anna, you and I must go to Asgard.”

  Anna’s mouth dropped open. “Who, me?”

  “Yes you. You are the keeper of the horn. Heimdall will want it back, but only you can carry it to him.”

  Struggling to his feet, the dwarf smiled at Hild, who had finished binding his arm and salving his various cuts and bruises. “Thank you, child, that feels much better,” he said, rolling down his sleeve. “You have the gift of healing and if I’m not mistaken will soon be a famous wisewoman.”

  Hild blushed, but Gurthrunn had turned his attention back to Anna. “Come child. Follow me,” he instructed, walking towards the barrow door.

  Lar stepped forward, “I should go with my sister,” he said, defiance in his gaze as he eyed the dwarf.

  “I am afraid that is not possible,” Gurthrunn said. “Although the Bifrost is open, only the gods, beings like Valkyries and us dweorgs as well as those in possesion of the god’s treasures may travel to Asgard. Anna is the one who was chosen by the horn and only she may pass through the portal into Asgard. Rest assured that I will do all in my power to protect her in your stead.”

  Holding the dwarf’s gaze for a moment, Lar gave a reluctant nod and stood back to watch. “We will be here waiting for you, Anna,” he called.

  She turned to smile at him then followed Gurthrunn. “How do you know the way? How can you be sure we will end up in Asgard?”

  The dwarf chuckled. “Anna, we built the Bifrost just as we built all the doors and all the treasures of the gods. I know what I am doing.” He held out his hand.

  Anna hesitated a moment and then put hers into it. She let herself be led towards the doorway and then closed her eyes as they passed through it. “Tell me when we get there,” she said, her eyes still screwed shut.

  “We are already there,” came his slightly amused reply.

  She opened her eyes and stared at him. “But I did not feel anything!”

  “Nonetheless, here we are, look.” He gave a wave of his hand.

  “Merciful Woden!”Anna exclaimed, looking up and around her. They were standing on a triangular ledge on the other side of the doorway, which stood by itself without any walls around it, still shimmering and glowing just as it had in the barrow. Other than themselves and the door, the ledge was empty. On two sides the ground dropped away into an impossibly high cliff. Far below them Anna could see green fields and woodlands stretching into the distance. Behind her, on the third side of the ledge, was a city. She caught her breath in awe. The buildings were like none she had ever seen, built of honey-coloured stone and soaring above them, climbing higher and higher. There were at least a hundred towers, topped by tall spires or minarets, and far above them flags and banners flapped in the breeze. A single, very tall door led from the ledge into the city.

  “Well this is pretty scary,” Anna whispered to Gurthrunn, staring up at the city in astonishment. “I am thinking of blowing Heimdall’s horn again and summoning an army for protection.”

  “Who is this mortal child who uses my name?” boomed a loud voice. The door into Asgard swung open and Anna gaped in astonishment. The voice belonged to a huge figure that she would hesitate to say was a man, for he was seven foot tall if he was an inch. His skin was the palest white and his hair the fairest blond she had ever seen. He wore a mail shirt that shone and glittered and over which was thrown a dark blue cloak, trimmed with gold. At his side was a mighty sword. He strode onto the ledge and with a piercing gaze peered down at the child and the dwarf.

  “Well? Have you no voice, daughter of Midgard? What is this about my horn?”

  Anna could not help but recoil in fear, backing away towards the door to the Bifrost. “You heard me say that? But I just whispered it!”

  “You will find my hearing is very good, as is my eyesight and both tell me that you have not answered my question: who are you?”

  “I ... I am a girl called Anna, and I ... I ...”

  “Do you ever get to the point, girl called Anna?” The booming voice echoed about them as if they were in a cavern.

  “Yes ... er, Lord Heimdall is it?”

  The enormous figure inclined his head, “Yes, I am the God Heimdall, Guardian of Asgard.”

  “Well then, I have brought you your horn back,” Anna said, pulling the treasure from her pouch and lifting it up to him.

  Heimdall seemed stunned by the news. He strode forward and bending over her, snatched the horn from her grasp. It looked impossibly small in his great hands, but as he stared at it the horn grew in size to match his stature. Then his gaze snapped back to Anna.

  “This has been lost for six of your mortal lifetimes. How did it come to you and how was it you were able to use it?”

  “How do you know I used it?” Anna asked.

  “It is my horn; I owned it for millennia before it was stolen. Naturally I would know. We heard the call even here in Asgard and dispatched the Valkyries to locate it.”

  “I will tell the tale, mighty Heimdall,” Gurthrunn answered. “But first, may I beg to seek an audience with the Goddess Freya and the God Woden?” As he said this, the dwarf produced the Brisingamen from his belt and held it out. Heimdall took one look at the glittering necklace and nodded his head. <
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  In what seemed like only moments, Anna and Gurthrunn were swept from the entrance into Asgard and led by Heimdall through streets of such splendour that Anna could hardly take it in. She had heard tales of the mighty cities of far away Rome and Byzantium, which were rumoured to be extraordinary, but never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined anything like this and she was both entranced and overawed by the magnificence she saw all around her.

  Finally, they were presented in a hall of immense size, with pillars that reached up to a vast dome high above. At the far end of the hall were steps leading up to a dais. There, seated on a vast, stone throne was a being who was both terrifying and wonderful to look at: a mighty warrior, clad in gleaming armour. He had a long, grey-white beard and wore a single eye patch. On the back of his throne were perched two gigantic ravens, and at his feet a pair of wolves regarded their approach with interest. ‘Just as a wolf in Midgard might study a herd of deer,’ thought Anna, eyeing them warily and feeling very scared. This could be none other than the father of the gods, mighty Woden!

  To one side of the throne, a few steps below Woden, two women stood. The first, Anna saw with a start, was the Valkyrie, Lydia, returned it seemed from Midgard. The other was a figure of such remarkable beauty that she took Anna’s breath away. She wore a simple, silver coronet atop blonde hair that fell rippling to her waist. Her gown of silver and white shimmered as she moved; her skin was flawless and her smile filled with such sweetness that Anna could not help but smile in return. This, she deduced, was the Goddess Freya.

  Gurthrunn bowed and then stepped forward and reached up to hand Freya the Brisingamen. Her expression when she saw it was one of love and affection and it seemed as if a tear came to her eyes as she bent to receive it.

  Woden waited until Freya had fastened the necklace around her neck before he spoke. His voice was deep, less booming than Heimdall’s, but carrying more authority, as was fitting for the chief of the gods.

  “Gurthrunn the dweorgar and a human girl, come together bearing mighty gifts. Well, well: an unusual day indeed. But Heimdall here tells me you have a tale to tell. Let us hear it.”